


It’s Hard to Leave Your Bed When It’s Cold

by adirtysilver



Category: Gintama
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 00:05:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16843135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adirtysilver/pseuds/adirtysilver
Summary: Gintoki and Hijikata spend a snow day together.





	It’s Hard to Leave Your Bed When It’s Cold

**Author's Note:**

> Something I wrote for Secret Santa a previous year for natodiangelo. Decided to post it here since right now it's only up on tumblr and dunno what's gonna happen with that site right now.
> 
> Just pure fluff.

The loud ringing of _someone’s_ alarm woke Gintoki up. After a few seconds of it, he turned his head away from the noise, annoyed, finding himself burrowing his head into a warm, comforting chest. It was a pleasant surprise that he was actually cuddling with Hijikata. Normally they just ended up sprawled out with an arm thrown over the other or their legs tangled up. Unfortunately, the blaring alarm just made him want to push Hijikata out of the futon. 

There was some light stirring, but Hijikata didn’t leave the blankets. Gintoki let out a groan. “Get your ass up,” he mumbled, giving a shove.

“It’s too cold,” Hijikata muttered, tightening his hold on Gintoki.

Gintoki was filled with conflicting emotions: he was pleased at the affection but he still wanted the issue to be resolved. “You set the alarm, so it’s your responsibility to turn it off. It’s only a couple feet away.”

Hijikata grunted, staying where he was. Gintoki considered forcefully removing him from their futon, but decided against it as it seemed like too much work this early in the morning. “Aren’t you a morning person?” he complained. “What’s with this role reversal?”

“Some idiot kept me up way later than he should have. And it’s really freakin’ cold.”

Nobody said anything as the alarm continued to blast. After another few seconds there were a bunch of thuds, fast approaching, before the door slammed open. Gintoki instinctively rolled away from Hijikata, just in time as Kagura flew through the air to kick Hijikata clear out of the futon, into the wall.

“Some people are trying to get their beauty sleep! People who actually live here!” Kagura shouted. “Turn off your alarm before I turn _you_ off!” With a hmph, she turned and left, leaving a slightly dazed Hijikata sitting against the wall.

He only stayed there long enough to process what had happened before lunging across the room to silence the alarm. With that finally done, he heaved a big sigh. “Are you sure she doesn’t hate me?”

“She does that kinda stuff to me all the time. Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you sure she doesn’t hate _you_?”

“Pfft. Are you really asking me that?” Gintoki asked as he rolled over onto his side to face Hijikata, resting his head on his hand. It always amused him to see Hijikata’s bed head, proof that his hair wasn’t always perfect, and this morning it was especially unruly.

“No…” Hijikata responded, a small smile on his lips. He glanced down at his now silent cell phone, his eyebrows furrowing. “I kept it plugged in all night and the battery’s only at 97% and it’s not charging.” Getting to his feet, Hijikata walked over and tried to flip on a light switch. Nothing happened. “Did you not pay your electricity bill?”

“Wh- that’s insulting! I probably _did_ maybe not pay it, but it’s never been cut off before when I’ve done that!”

“There’s a first time for everything,” Hijikata said drily. He unplugged the currently useless charger. There was no more putting it off, so he started going through his things to grab what he needed to get ready for the day. He left to go to the bathroom, leaving Gintoki laying there half-asleep but determined not to lose consciousness while Hijikata was still there. Luckily he didn’t have to struggle for long as Hijikata came back into the room less than ten minutes later.

“Are you coming back after work?” Gintoki asked, still laying down, pulling the blankets tighter around him now that he no longer had to share.

“Isn’t it about time you stayed at the barracks for once?” Hijikata asked. “When was the last time you stayed at my place? Last month?”

“I can’t sleep in until a proper hour of the day over there.”

“You know I have to wake up earlier when I sleep here,” Hijikata pointed out, pulling on his uniform pants. “Technically you can sleep in later at the barracks.”

“But I can’t go back to sleep there!” 

Hijikata rolled his eyes as he buttoned up his shirt. “If you were an actual adult you’d be able to start your day with me.”

“Screw being an ‘actual adult.’ And do you have time to be blabbing so much?” Not that Gintoki minded how Hijikata seemed to be taking his time this morning. He was only halfway done buttoning up his shirt.

“That eager for me to leave? If I’m so unwanted, guess I’ll spend tonight back in my own room.”

“I didn’t mean it like that! You’re just normally in a hurry when you’re getting ready. Do you not want to leave me?” Gintoki tried to lay on the seductiveness, lifting himself up and letting the covers slide off to reveal a small patch of chest. He regretted it almost instantly as he felt how cold the room was, and he realized now why Hijikata had been so reluctant to leave the warmth they had built together behind.

“Nice try, but I have a job I need to go do.” To emphasize his point, Hijikata pulled on his jacket, the longer winter one with a hood now that it was cold out.

“Will you at least give me a kiss before you go?” Gintoki puckered his lips.

Hijikata raised an eyebrow. “With your gross morning breath?”

“That hasn’t stopped you before!”

“Ha! You seem uncharacteristically gullible early in the morning.” Hijikata strode over to Gintoki and sat down before the perm head could even sit up himself. Leaning down, he gently kissed Gintoki’s lips, lingering briefly before straightening up. “I’ll see you tonight,” he said with a satisfied smirk as the faintest hint of a blush appeared on Gintoki’s face. Gintoki really did have less of his defenses up when it was early.

“You don’t have to be such an ass about it!” Gintoki shouted after him as Hijikata left the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

Despite the few hours of sleep he had gotten, Hijikata felt rested and not just content but happy. He hadn’t wanted to leave Gintoki, but he was not one to shirk his responsibilities. Besides, like he had promised, he’d be back after work anyways.

Hijikata slipped on his boots and pulled on his gloves, ready to head outside. He slid the door open and then stood there trying to understand what he saw. He reached a hand out to touch it, assuming it was just a dream or he was hallucinating. When he felt how realistic it was, he took a step back and shut the door again. He proceeded to slap himself in the face a few times and pinched himself just to be safe. Opening the door again, he saw the same thing before slamming it shut.

He barely remembered to take his boots off before half-running back to Gintoki’s room. “Look outside!” he said without any other explanation.

Gintoki blearily rubbed his eyes as he sat up, appearing to have already fallen back asleep once Hijikata had left. “Huh?”

“Just get up and look outside real quick! Tell me what you see.”

Gintoki squinted up at him, his expression suggesting that he thought Hijikata had lost it. He took his sweet time shuffling over to the window and opening the curtains. He was silent for a moment before saying, “Are we trapped in some kind of void? All I see is white. No…wait a minute. Is that snow?”

“I can’t even see outside when I open the door! How is it possible to get that much snow?”

“I dunno, stranger things have happened.” Gintoki yawned, not nearly as concerned as Hijikata had expected. “It’s probably just some Amanto shit.” He shut the curtains and turned to face the agitated Hijikata.

“We’re snowed in! I don’t know if I can even leave the house.”

“Oh no, you’re forced to spend the whole day with me. How terrible.”

“Are we fighting about the fact that I have a job I need to go to?”

“No, it’s just any normal person would see it as a day off.”

Hijikata crossed his arms. “I should be out there helping.”

“What are you going to do? Dig your way out? That’d take forever.”

“It would… But digging gives me an idea.” Hijikata left without any further explanation.

Gintoki was too tired to try to guess his thought process. He contemplated going back to bed, but mustered up enough motivation to throw on a jacket and follow after Hijikata. As Hijikata came to a stop, Gintoki saw what his idea was.

“At least have him go to the bathroom if you’re going to take him outside,” Gintoki said, looking down at a curled up Sadaharu. Their intrusion had woken Sadaharu up. He lifted his head, staring at them curiously but remained lying down.

Hijikata reached down to pet him, trying to get on his good side. “Where’s he supposed to go? There’s a ton of snow out there.” 

“I don’t care, as long as it’s not in the apartment. It’s the least you can do since you’re just going to use him.”

“Whatever. C’mon Sadaharu. We’re going for a walk,” Hijikata said as he went in search of the leash.

Sadaharu’s ears perked up at the word “walk” and he got up, wagging his tail. He didn’t seem to mind that it would be Hijikata giving him the walk. Gintoki wondered how it would go, but it was Hijikata’s choice.

“You’re so desperate to get away from me. I feel so unloved,” Gintoki pouted, watching as Hijikata successfully located the leash.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m a horrible person.” Hijikata clipped on the leash. Sadaharu behaved himself as he followed Hijikata to the front door and waited patiently as Hijikata put his boots back on. Even though he was annoyed, Gintoki followed them to say goodbye.

When the door was opened, Gintoki was stunned by how there truly was only snow to see. Seeing it block a whole doorway was different than seeing it out the window. It gave him a sense of restlessness, that he couldn’t just go outside. Sadaharu hesitated, confused, before pressing a paw against the snow.

“Dig us out of here, Sadaharu,” Gintoki explained, wondering if the dog would understand.

Thankfully he did, as Sadaharu started shoveling huge piles of snow aside with his paws. Gintoki swooped in to rescue his boots and Kagura’s shoes from becoming buried while Hijikata watched his plan unfold. With how big Sadaharu was, it wouldn’t take long for him to clear a path to the stairs. Who knows if the dog would be willing to dig a path all the way to the Shinsengumi barracks. It wasn’t exactly close.

“See you later, tax robber. And you really better be coming back tonight or else I’ll have to get my pay back,” Gintoki threatened. Hijikata knew it wasn’t a hollow threat and Sougo would most likely be pulled into it.

“Don’t worry, it won’t come to that,” Hijikata assured him. “Enjoy your day of doing nothing, layabout.”

Alone, Gintoki felt a little sad. He knew it was selfish to want Hijikata to abandon his job to stay with him, but this situation seemed like it was the perfect chance for them to spend a lazy day together where Hijikata wouldn’t have to worry about work. Gintoki had already been unsuccessful at convincing Hijikata to take some vacation days before. Gintoki resigned himself to the fact that Hijikata’s job was one of the most important things in his life.

Gintoki trudged back to bed which was already cold, and tried to go back to sleep. After the events of the morning, though, he was having trouble. Gintoki couldn’t keep himself from moping. His only consolation was the fact that Hijikata’s scent still lingered on his pillow and the blankets. Gintoki inhaled deeply, pretending Hijikata was still nearby. Eventually he did start to doze off, after who knows how long.

It felt like he had just fallen asleep when the sound of someone entering his room woke Gintoki up. He sprang up, ready to grab his bokken, when he realized it was just Hijikata. He looked flustered and a bit of blood was dripping down his face.

“Back so soon?” Gintoki asked, gathering the blankets around his shoulders.

“Yeah! Your friggin’ dog attacked me! He was just fine until after he did his business, but then he wanted to come back here. I tried to get him to go further and he bit me on the head!” Hijikata pointed to the fresh bite marks on his forehead, blood still slowly oozing out of them. “Why isn’t your dog properly trained?”

“Sadaharu does what he wants. He really only listens to Kagura, I don’t know why you thought he would do whatever you wanted. But I guess since you’re back you’ve given up?” Gintoki asked hopefully.

Hijikata sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I called Kondo-san and he said I should just stay here until the roads are cleared and they’d call me if they needed me.” He went to reach into his coat pockets, producing a pack of cigarettes and sliding one out before deciding better of it. There wouldn’t be any fresh air for circulation.

“So you’ll listen to him but you won’t listen to me.”

“He’s my boss.”

“At least he agrees with me. It was pretty dumb for you to try to go to work. Now come and join me under the blankets instead of awkwardly standing there.” Gintoki lifted them up and patted the spot next to him.

“I already got ready for the day, I’m not going back to sleep.”

“What else are you gonna do? Don’t be so stubborn and enjoy a little nap with me.” Seeing Hijikata check his phone, Gintoki added, “You’ll just waste your battery if you keep checking that. They said they’d call you if they need you so you should make sure your phone is alive for that.”

“I can’t believe you’re actually being the sensible one for once,” Hijikata said, shutting his phone and setting it down within arm’s reach of the futon. He got out of his uniform and back into his pajamas, spending the time to hang his clothes up all nice and neatly, but as Gintoki watched, he could see the desperation grow. Hijikata was shivering by the time he slid next to Gintoki, arms wrapping tight around Gintoki’s chest to pull him closer.

Gintoki flinched at the feel of ice cold hands on a bit of exposed elbow. The chill from outside still clung to Hijikata, driving Gintoki’s sleepiness away. They were pressed as close to each other as they could be, and Gintoki willed Hijikata to warm up quickly. He could feel Hijikata slowly relaxing around him, but a tension remained.

Gintoki turned himself over so that they were facing each other and started gently rubbing Hijikata’s back. Hijikata didn’t say anything but just rested his head below Gintoki’s chin, eyes closing. Gintoki’s hands roamed around a bit, massaging Hijikata’s shoulders and neck before returning to his back. He paused when he could tell by Hijikata’s breathing that he’d fallen asleep. Pleased with himself, Gintoki tenderly kissed the top of Hijikata’s head. He allowed himself to sink back into sleep’s embrace, a content smile stuck on his face.

Instead of a phone, it was Kagura who woke them up this time. “Gin-chan! We don’t have any power! And there’s a lot of snow outside!” 

“Yeah? Is there something you need from me?” Gintoki mumbled, not even bothering to open his eyes.

“There’s nothing to eat here and there’s nothing to do! Come outside and play with me!”

Gintoki was very aware of the warm lump next to him and how he would react to the invitation. He could feel Hijikata curling up further under the covers as if he was hiding from Kagura. “Okay, just give me a few minutes to get ready.”

“What about him?”

Hijikata flinched. Gintoki had already gotten his way, and he wasn’t sure if he should push Hijikata any further so he answered for him, “He’ll just stay inside and rest since it’s his day off.”

“What a boring loser,” Kagura said. She grinned afterwards, though, excitement in her eyes. “I’ll wait for you outside!” She dashed away, probably to go dig out her snow gear.

“You can do what you want,” Gintoki said, sliding out of Hijikata’s arms. “That also means you can join us.”

Hijikata didn’t move to get up. “You got it right when you said I was gonna stay inside.”

Gintoki shrugged. “Suit yourself. I’ll probably only be out there for a few hours.”

As Gintoki prepared himself for the snow outside, Hijikata remained in the futon, eyes closed, but not asleep. Gintoki didn’t think he would lay around much longer since it was already late morning. He felt bad for abandoning Hijikata after complaining about him leaving, but Hijikata chose to not join them.

Once outside, Gintoki saw that Sadaharu had already pranced around in the snow and dug out a decent-sized area they could play in. It was odd being in the middle of the street and having snow towering over him except for a small area by the apartment. There was a trail that went off into the distance from when Sadaharu had been taken out earlier, but otherwise the snow was still untouched. Gintoki secretly hoped the snow would remain impassable until tomorrow.

Due to the ridiculous amount of snow they had to work with, he and Kagura both built their own snow forts. It was all in preparation for a snowball fight. After maybe an hour of work on their construction, they decided it was time to get on to the main event.

Gintoki knew he was outmatched, being up against Kagura by himself. Normally he would have Shinpachi on his side and the two of them would almost be able to beat Kagura. Every snowball she hurled packed a punch, damaging the snow fort’s walls or providing a smack of pain if not dodged. Gintoki was almost ready to raise the white flag when he noticed Hijikata walking down the stairs, wearing his uniform since he didn’t have another set of winter clothes.

Hijikata got out a cigarette and started smoking, watching the spectacle. Kagura had her back to him so she didn’t notice at first, but then she saw Gintoki staring and turned to see what it was. A mischievous grin appeared on her face, and before Gintoki could tell her no, she lobbed a snowball at Hijikata, smacking him in the face. The cigarette dropped to the ground and Hijikata remained frozen in shock.

Gintoki threw his hands up in exasperation. “Kagura! You’re going to make him mad!”

Slowly and deliberately, Hijikata lifted a hand up and wiped the snow from his face, deadly calm. He crouched down, forming a perfectly round snowball in his hands before hurling it at Kagura who ducked just in time, popping back up with her tongue stuck out. Without waiting to see the result, he was already making the next one and throwing it as soon as it was ready.

Gintoki could see how he was a sitting duck, out in the open like that, so he yelled, “Come to me, my love! Together we can beat her!”

It really said a lot about how focused Hijikata was on getting his revenge that he didn’t even blush. He ran over to Gintoki’s fort, pausing a few times along the way to throw more snowballs. Together Gintoki and Hijikata became an unstoppable dream team with Gintoki rolling snowballs and the fresher Hijikata throwing them almost nonstop. Hijikata let out a victory cry once he got his first hit, and Gintoki chuckled at how into it Hijikata was getting. In the end, the two won out over Kagura who cried foul since it was two against one.

Gintoki and Hijikata sat leaned against each other, chests heaving for air and sweaty with exertion. Gintoki had sent Kagura off with Sadaharu to go to Shinpachi’s in the hopes that they would have power there. At the very least, they should have food for her to eat. Gintoki wasn’t sure what he and Hijikata would do about food, but decided they would manage.

“What about Otose?” Hijikata asked.

“She’ll be alright,” Gintoki replied. “She has Tama to look after her. I’m more worried about us. I guess let’s go inside and see what there is to eat.” His stomach growled, it was well after lunchtime and he felt it.

Inside they didn’t have much luck. They found some rice crackers and three eggs, so Gintoki made tamagoyaki for the both of them. They grabbed their mayonnaise and strawberry milk from the fridge quickly, although Gintoki didn’t think it would make much of a difference if the fridge was open considering how cold it was. Hijikata drowned everything with his mayo and Gintoki enjoyed the last of his milk.

“If I didn’t know you better, I’d be offended by how you’re treating my cooking,” Gintoki pointed out as Hijikata put a piece of completely coated tamagoyaki into his mouth.

Hijikata finished chewing before saying, “Your cooking’s not bad, except for the lack of mayonnaise.”

“Even when we’re this low on food, nobody touches your disgusting mayo.”

“Couldn’t you say the same about your stupid strawberry milk?”

“No! They just know I’d kick their asses if they touched it.”

“Maybe it’s the same for my mayonnaise.”

“I’ve never had to threaten them about it. Nobody’s ever been tempted.”

“Bull,” Hijikata said, scraping up the mayo that was left on the plate. “You might not be tempted since your sense of taste is so messed up, but normal people would be.”

“You’re the one whose sense of taste is messed up. I feel like there’s no point arguing about it since there’s no way we’ll convince each other.”

“I’ll take that as you admitting I’m right.”

“And I’ll just accept that I’m the better person.” Gintoki finished off his rice crackers and went to go put his dish in the sink.

Hijikata followed suit after stopping just short of licking his plate clean. He still squirted some mayonnaise straight into his mouth, causing Gintoki to have to look away to avoid getting nauseous. He didn’t know how he could kiss someone who did that.

“So now what?” Hijikata asked. “And can’t you turn on a heater in here? I’m freezing.”

“Ahh, about that…Food’s not the only thing we needed to stock up on.” Gintoki avoided eye contact with Hijikata.

Hijikata looked at him in disbelief. “You don’t have any kerosene?”

“I was gonna buy some after our next job since we’re broke right now. And we have a kotatsu! That’s all we need to get by in the winter. It’s just it’s not as useful in this kind of situation…”

Hijikata rubbed his forehead, wanting to keep a headache at bay. “You aren’t prepared for natural disasters at all. So the only thing we can do is bury ourselves in blankets?”

“Well I do have an idea.”

“It’s not having sex, is it?”

“Whuh, no. Why not?”

“I need to be ready to leave if there’s an emergency!”

“A quickie?”

“No!”

“Well good thing that wasn’t my idea. You just sit here and wait while I take care of it.” Gintoki went off, an excited little bounce to his step.

Hijikata stared after him before going to sit underneath the unplugged kotatsu. It was better than nothing. It didn’t take long before Gintoki came back, his arms filled with what seemed like every blanket in the apartment, dumping them on the floor.

Hijikata was confused. “I thought you said you had an idea that wasn’t just piling on blankets?”

“Yeah, you’ll see.” Gintoki left again before returning dragging the futon with him. He moved the table between the couches out of the way before putting the futon in its spot. Then he grabbed a blanket and draped it over the top of one of the couches, stretching it over the top of the other one too. He grabbed a second blanket and did the same thing, so that the couches were now completely covered.

“You’re making a blanket fort?” Hijikata asked, incredulous.

“Yep.”

“What are you, four?”

“Just you wait. You’ll be saying what a genius I am when we’re all nice and warm and cozy.” Gintoki continued to add blankets until there were no gaps left. He crawled underneath them, pausing halfway through the blanket barrier to beckon to Hijikata. “Come on.”

Hijikata remained sitting. “This seems pretty unnecessary. We could’ve just stayed in the futon.”

“Come _on_.”

“The things I have to put up with…” Hijikata left the warmth he had accumulated behind, crawling into the blanket fort behind Gintoki.

It was pretty dark inside and cramped. They bumped into each other a few times as they got settled into the futon, but eventually they got into a comfortable position, just lying next to each other for now, staring at the ceiling of the fort. It was such a small space to be in, and secluded in a way that even being in a bedroom with no one else at home wasn’t. He could feel it warming up as they spent more time in it, making it very cozy.

“Ready to take back your words?” Gintoki asked, poking him in the side.

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say you were a genius, but this isn’t terrible.”

“You’re always so stingy with your praise,” Gintoki pouted.

“Maybe your standards are just too low,” Hijikata countered.

“At least you can admit that I’m a great cuddler.”

Hijikata remained silent.

Gintoki turned onto his side to face Hijikata, eyebrows drawn together and frowning. “Hey! Have you secretly hated me this whole time?”

Hijikata let out a snort before also turning onto his side. He reached out a hand to poke right where Gintoki’s brow was drawn. “’Course not, idiot. That is one thing I will admit, you do know how to cuddle.”

He leaned towards Gintoki, wrapping his arms around him and kissing him. Gintoki responded by allowing Hijikata into his mouth, his own hands wandering to grab at Hijikata’s hair. It was a slow kiss, and Hijikata closed his eyes as he savored it. All day he had been feeling a warmth deep inside, despite the cold, and now it only grew. Spending so much time with Gintoki, in a way he hadn’t really before, Hijikata felt like all his worries were gone and he had everything he needed. He had Gintoki, his heart beating right next to Hijikata’s own, their heat being shared, and he knew Gintoki was also perfectly content. As he pulled away from the kiss, he hoped Gintoki could tell how he was feeling, to know how important he was to him, how he felt like home.

Perhaps he did as he left a trail of kisses, starting at Hijikata’s cheek and ending at his collarbone, staring into his eyes the whole time, intent on seeing every bit of emotion Hijikata let show. “Are you enjoying your day off?” Gintoki asked softly, right into Hijikata’s chest so he could feel the vibrations.

“Hmm,” Hijikata hummed. “Yes. It has been nice.” He was thankful for the snow giving them this opportunity, but didn’t say it out loud.

“Good. I feel the same way.” Gintoki gave one last little kiss before looking back up into Hijikata’s eyes. “I wish today would never end.”

“Me too,” Hijikata agreed.


End file.
